U’khand health insurance plan with Rs 1.75 lakh cover from August

The Uttarakhand government will launch on August 1 the second phase of the Mukhyamantri Swasthya Beema Yojana (MSBY) that will extend the health cover to each beneficiary from existing Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.75 lakh.

The health insurance scheme is applicable for non-government employees who do not fall under the income tax paying slab.(HT Photo)

The Uttarakhand government will launch on August 1 the second phase of the Mukhyamantri Swasthya Beema Yojana (MSBY) that will extend the health cover to each beneficiary from existing Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.75 lakh.

The chief minister health insurance scheme is applicable for non-government employees who do not fall under the income tax paying slab, health minister Surendra Singh said. Government employees and pensioners are not included in the scheme.

The first phase of the scheme, launched in April last year, promised each family cashless treatment up to Rs 50,000 at all government and empanelled private hospitals per year.

The government had planned to increase the cover to Rs 1.75 lakh from October last year, but the date continued to get deferred.

“We wanted to launch its second phase right with the new financial year (April) itself but the President’s rule delayed it,” Negi told HT.

Around 10,80,000 families are covered under the MSBY scheme as of now and the health department is hoping to rope in at least one lakh additional families after the launch of its second phase.

Principal secretary (health) Om Prakash said the insurance scheme would have a base cover of Rs 50,000 for general medical treatment and a tertiary care cover amounting to Rs 1.25 lakh per family every year.

“The tender process has been completed and we are gearing up to commence the scheme, which will cover a total of 600 diseases,” he told HT. The tertiary care cover will take care of complex medical investigations and treatments of critical ailments related to heart and kidney, Om Prakash said.

A source in the health department said launching of the second phase was delayed because the government could not reach a consensus with insurance companies in the fray.

Many private hospitals had even stopped providing treatment under the MSBY scheme owing to huge backlog payments until the government cleared off all the dues earlier this year, it said.